According to the Chronicle’s Lee Ryder, Jonjo Shelvey is now ‘touch and go’ for Saturday’s game with Bournemouth – with Benitez also ‘assessing’ Lascelles and Muto after the pair came off injured during the win over Watford.

The piece states that Shelvey is now awaiting the results of a scan, with Ki Sung-yueng on ‘standby’ to come into the side on Saturday should Jonjo fail to recover in time.

The Chronicle claim that Muto said his injury was ‘not too bad’ when speaking after the game, however it seems Benitez is also assessing both himself and Lascelles – with the skipper coming off with a shoulder injury against Watford.

Fortunately, Schar was an absolute rock, Ki changed the game and Perez nodded in the winner – so all three potential replacements would come into the game with momentum and form should Lascelles, Shelvey and Muto all miss out.

Here’s what Rafa said about the trio after they limped off on Saturday:

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“There are a couple of muscle problems with Shelvey and Muto.

“We will see what is going on. Jamaal had a little problem with his shoulder in a training session the other day, but we will have to wait a little bit and see how they are.

“For Muto, it was the calf, but still it’s too early to know what he has.”

Time will tell if any or all of them make Saturday’s game, but at least we have a few back up options coming into the side with a spring in their step should they miss out.

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